[ti:Going Digital: California's Textbook Project]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:Education Report]
[by:51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:03.14]Education Report.
[00:04.94]California has a new program 
[00:08.28]called the Digital Textbook Initiative.
[00:11.46]Starting this fall 
[00:12.61]with high school math and science, 
[00:17.34]we will be the first state in the nation 
[00:19.72]-- the first state in the nation 
[00:21.52]-- to provide schools 
[00:22.46]with a state-approved list 
[00:24.50]of digital textbooks."
[00:25.74]That was 
[00:26.64]Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in June, 
[00:29.53]talking about his effort to get schools 
[00:32.26]to use materials available free online. 
[00:36.44]He listed reasons why he thinks 
[00:39.63]digital textbooks make sense.
[00:42.42]California approves traditional textbooks 
[00:45.85]in six-year cycles. 
[00:48.24]Digital ones can offer the latest information. 
[00:52.27]They lighten the load of school bags. 
[00:55.62]They save paper and trees, 
[00:58.62]and make learning more fun and interactive. 
[01:03.12]And lastly he said they help schools 
[01:06.81]with their finances.
[01:08.90]The state has had to make severe cuts 
[01:12.35]in school spending 
[01:13.89]because of deep financial problems. 
[01:17.27]More than six million students 
[01:20.11]attend California public schools.
[01:22.80]Earlier this year, 
[01:25.23]California invited content developers
[01:29.11]to offer digital math and science materials 
[01:33.39]for high schools. 
[01:35.09]These had to meet at least ninety percent 
[01:39.13]of the state's learning requirements. 
[01:41.99]Specially trained teachers examined 
[01:45.77]sixteen textbooks and approved ten of them.
[01:49.95]Six of the ten were published 
[01:53.29]by the CK12 Foundation. 
[01:56.68]Co-founder Neeru Khosla says 
[01:59.76]the nonprofit group had been 
[02:02.56]developing digital science 
[02:04.80]and math books for about two years. 
[02:08.33]The foundation paid teachers 
[02:11.44]and other education professionals 
[02:14.42]to write and edit them. 
[02:17.37]The money came from a group financed 
[02:20.99]by the Khosla family. 
[02:23.38]The AMAR Foundation also 
[02:25.58]supports projects in India.
[02:28.47]California cannot require schools 
[02:31.85]to use the digital textbooks. 
[02:34.65]Individual school districts 
[02:37.04]will have to decide for themselves.
[02:39.81]Susan Martimo, a California Department 
[02:44.45]of Education official, says 
[02:46.59]she does not expect 
[02:48.74]widespread use right away. 
[02:51.58]Her best guess is that some schools 
[02:55.31]with a lot of technology 
[02:57.51]will be the first to use them, 
[03:00.30]but only in addition 
[03:02.52]to their traditional books.
[03:05.05]School administrators point out 
[03:08.19]that the texts may be free online, 
[03:11.32]but students need a way to access them. 
[03:15.52]Not everyone has a computer 
[03:18.46]or electronic reader. 
[03:20.80]Schools could print out copies, 
[03:23.60]but that would not help the environment. 
[03:27.28]Also, there is the cost to train teachers 
[03:31.50]to use digital textbooks effectively.
[03:35.48]Next week: a look at digital textbooks 
[03:38.96]in college. 
[03:40.42]And that's the VOA Special English 
[03:43.30]Education Report, 
[03:44.91]written by Nancy Steinbach. 
[03:46.85]You can find transcripts 
[03:49.35]and podcasts of our reports 
[03:51.89]at 51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.